Theme Of Corruption In The Pardoner's Tale

“Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?” asked Ulrich suddenly; “There is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if tonight one of us dies.” “No, I can scarcely see anything; “there is so much blood caked around my eyes” said Georg, “and in any case I don’t drink wine with an enemy.” Both of the men knew their fate that evening when time kept passing while they waited for their men to rescue them.

This corruption led to people losing faith and believing the church was unimportant, resulting in the Reformation. Both these diseases led caused very important movements to be put into action.

evidence these harmless or well-respected Salem villagers who have not confessed to witchcraft, are not witches. Though, unfortunately, this did not occur, instead the public, through fear, was easily manipulated into supporting the corruption in the government and further inciting it. The government utilized fear to weaken the citizens and muddle their judgement, so the citizens would have to rely on the government for judgement. The corruption of the government during the Red Scare stemmed from the leader of it, McCarthy (History.com staff; Hosey). This senator was discovered to have told dishonest speeches, fabricated evidence, and abused suspects, violating their rights, during interrogations (Barnes; Hosey).

Geoffrey Chaucer, considered one of the greatest English poets in the Middle Ages, composed The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century. In the novel twenty-nine men and women representing all aspects of Medieval society embark on a religious pilgrimage to the cathedral at Canterbury in southeast England. On their journey their host engages them in a storytelling contest with a free meal as the prize upon their return. Chaucer wrote the tales in Middle English, the vernacular of the Medieval period, making his work accessible to all classes of people.

During the early sixteenth century the Church began to experience loss of respect and many challenges due to the corruption within the church. Many began to think the church was dying. This would cause the reformation. Throughout the age of reformation, the political and social spheres of Europe were also significantly affected, as well as the religious movement, through Martin Luther, the printing press, and the opinions of the people. The reformation is often viewed as a religious movement, yet it also affected the political and social aspects of Europe as well.

“Radix malorum est cupiditas” translated from Latin into “Greed is the root of all evil.” (Chaucer 125) Throughout the Pardoner’s Tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, this is the story of three men that treat people lower than them and they end up finding a whole pile of gold, but they end up killing each other to get the gold to themselves. The entirety of the three men end up dead and not even one gets the gold. There are many topics involving greed, this essay will involve what it is about, the dangers, and the benefits of controlling the desire to gain.

“ During the Middle ages much of Europe passed through a time of turmoil and confusion, of ignorance and lawlessness. Europe suffered a decline in commerce and manufacturing, in education, in literature and the arts, and in almost all that makes possible a high civilization. Europe became a a region of poverty-stricken farming communities, each virtually isolated from

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” This quote by Abraham Lincoln focuses on the level of honesty, integrity, and compassion an individual can bring to a relationship, a community, and the world. It forces the risk of the possibility of corruption that comes with power. That a man or woman will use their power for self serving purposes to achieve his or her ultimate goal no matter what the cost to others may be. This occurs in The Crucible by Arthur Miller where Abigail, an unmarried girl with a tainted name, obtains power through her false confession of dancing with the Devil and her attempts of incriminating others of the same.

When the Protestant Reformation occurred, it had a large effect on western civilization. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th century when Martin Luther wanted to increase life and develop the right way within the churches. The Protestant Reformation changed life for people for Europe by the changes with religion, gender, and class. In Europe, there was a lot of religions fighting for the chances of succeeding and having all the power.

Greed or Wrath? Greed, greed is in the air, greed greed is everywhere. Geoffrey Chaucer’s story The Canterbury Tales begins with a prologue explaining the main points of the stories that follow the prologue. The two Stories “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of bath’s Tale” are two of the stories in The Canterbury Tales.

Greed is one of the worst things a person can have in his or her characteristics during the Middle Ages. The representation of being greedy made you get looked upon by the people in many bad ways. A good example of this is “The Pardoner's Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer. “The Pardoner's Tale” shows that the idea of not being greedy in order to enhance the characterization of the Pardoner, as he used the church to his advantage to earn money.

New ideas about religion, politics, and culture, swept across Europe in the sixteenth century. The cultural norm began changing in ways that have affected even modern day society. People began questioning powers, especially in church. A major part of the Reformation was the call to purify the church. Many important and notable people drove this cause, and they acted as reformers.

Irony is the contrast between how things are and how things should be. This literary technique is used in The Pardoner's Tale to show how corrupt the Pardoner is. The Pardoner tells a story with the intention of teaching the company that greed is the root of all evil, yet he tries to swindle them and get contributions even after he admits they are fake. This is ironic because he should be practicing what he preaches, but he does the exact opposite. The irony surrounding the Pardoner becomes evident when his motives are explained in the beginning of the prologue.

“The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the three rioters originally planned to travel to kill Death. After traveling less than half a mile, The three rioters met a poor, old man; the old man told them where they could find Death. The three rioters followed his directions and found not Death but a pot of gold coins under a tree. After, discovering the gold coins, they secretly plotted to kill each other, hoping to keep the treasure to only himself. Because of this, the role of the gold coins acted as the source and main cause of their death.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were.